To The End of Infinity With You
by nuka-cherries
Summary: So, the end of the world was coming. Bucky knew that feeling all those years ago, what with Hydra threatening to bomb half the planet. Except that now, it wasn't a world at war. Nothing like that; it was a tall purple man who had powerful stones that could destroy planets. So, maybe the end of the world was an understatement. Maybe end of the universe would fit better.
1. Don't Freeze

**Inspired by buckyjerkbarnes's the coming of our golden age on AO3. Title from The Last of The Real Ones by Fall Out Boy.**

 **So this is my predictions/fix it fic for Infinity War and the MCU in general. After most Marvel movies, I tried to write a fic for it, but didn't get around to posting them. So I saved them for this. Basically filling in missing scenes in different character's perspectives, but they're all interconnected to the big battle. I know, I know, it hasn't come out yet, so what would I be fixing in the first place? But I just can't risk it. Y'all, I really can't.**

 **So, this takes place in the year 2020, because that's my graduation year and my favorite future year to look forward to. So, four years after Civil War. For this chapter, Bucky is fully recovered with a shiny vibranium arm.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Don't Freeze

It was a Thursday morning of being out in the market when the Ring first appeared.

Bucky was purchasing groceries. Cooking was fun for him and it was one of the activities he enjoyed while in Romania.

The civilians were already used to his presence in the market, a few greeting him by name. Some of the kids called him White Wolf, a nickname he didn't mind at all, a small group of them inviting him to play soccer in the street. He respectfully declined each time.

He heard a few surprised Xhosan words coming from the crowd. He turned to look at them pointing to the sky.

Then he saw it.

A metal ring hovered in the air, small in the distance. But it was nothing like the Wakandan aircraft in the hangar. Nothing like the commercial planes that now flew over the country.

Shit.

Bucky dropped the potato back into the crate and pulled out his phone to dial his only contact under the T. He felt a slimmer of relief when the king answered on the first ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, uh, T'Challa?" Bucky asked. "You...you might want to look outside."

* * *

Bucky didn't sleep much the night before Steve was set to arrive.

Then again, ever since that Thursday of last week, he hadn't been sleeping much at all.

What Bucky felt was a lot of things. The adjectives for it were endless when it came to how Bucky felt; call it nerves to seeing his best friend again, anxiety in general of the great unknown of outer space. But most importantly, fear of the giant floating metal ring in the sky.

So, the end of the world was coming. He knew that feeling all those years ago, during the war, what with Hydra threatening to bomb half the planet. Except that now, it wasn't a world at war. No Axis versus the Allies, nothing like that; it was a tall purple man who had an army and a glove of powerful stones that could destroy planets.

Scratch that, they were stones that _have_ destroyed planets.

Okay, so maybe the end of the world was an understatement.

Maybe end of the universe would be better fitting.

Despite the circumstances that the end of the world as he knew it was looming around the corner, he couldn't help but feel some excitement that the Secret Avengers were coming.

Steve.

Steve was coming, after nearly four years of not seeing him. Four years of Steve going around the world with the Secret Avengers and personally delivering the remaining HYDRA bastards to the gates of the hell they belonged in.

All Bucky could communicate with Steve through was with phone calls and for the first time since Romania, he formed a life without Steve in the immediate picture. It was hard. It was easy. It wasn't like losing a limb, but there was an absence.

Steve always talked about their future together, whatever it would be.

But now, with this war and a threat bigger than themselves, Bucky wasn't sure there would be a future for anyone else.

* * *

Bucky was pacing.

He had eaten a moderate sized breakfast, gotten dressed in a good amount of time, brushed his hair a few times. Ready before the half hour that T'Challa said to pick him up on the way to the Quinjet.

So maybe he was nervous.

Maybe he was a little bit nervous about everything. About what was going to happen in the future he may or may not live to see. About seeing Steve again. Fuck.

"You do know if you keep pacing like that, you're going to make a hole in the ground," T'Challa's voice came from the doorway. Shuri came in tow, her braided hair pulled up in two buns.

"I'm well aware," Bucky said, slowing down his pacing.

"Whatever you do, don't freeze when you see Captain Rogers," Shuri snickered. Both siblings snickered at some inside joke that Bucky didn't know the punchline to.

"I'm not gonna freeze," Bucky scoffed. Whatever the hell that meant.

"How were you when you heard his voice?" Shuri used her pinkie and thumb to mimic a phone and held it to her ear, but most importantly to mock the shocked silence Bucky went through to the point that Steve though he had hung up. Shuri mocked Bucky's voice with an exaggerated "Uh...hi."

Steve had called shortly after Bucky was ready to talk to him. At least, Bucky was sure he was ready until he heard his voice and felt all those feelings rushing back at him. and, well, he let out a delayed hi. He wasn't at fault. Nobody could have blamed him. Whatever. No big deal. No matter what the royal siblings said, it _wasn't_ a big deal.

Except, of course, that meant absolutely nothing to Shuri and T'Challa, who witnessed the whole ordeal and were struggling to contain their laughter. At least T'Challa was graceful about it; Shuri had to leave the room to let out her laughter in the hallway.

Bucky rolled his eyes, "Whatever, your majesties."

After Bucky left the room, he heard Shuri ask "He is going to freeze isn't he?"

Okoye then said, "Like a _baby_ gazelle in the headlights of a moving car."

Both of them laughed out loud, making no effort to obscure it. Bucy knew they knew he could hear them. But rather than fighting them on it, he kept moving to his suite.

No use in fighting Okoye in an argument he knew he was going to lose.

* * *

The walk to the Quinjet felt longer than it was. Bucky's heart couldn't stop racing. He lacked a weapon to hold on to, what with him taking a vow that he wouldn't pick up a gun unless it was life or death. Aside the kitchen knives he used for cooking, he didn't keep a weapon in his suite. He was absolutely safe in Wakanda.

The upcoming war was not here yet, so the vibranium laced assault and sniper rifles sat dismantled in their cases in the armory.

He caught Sam's glare of 's hate for him had dwindled over the years to bitterness that Bucky could understand. Natalia was blonde now.

And then there he was.

Steve's hair was longer. He had a beard. He looked unrecognizable to the Steve from 1944. Or 2016.

Steve greeted T'Challa first with a hearty hug that spoke volumes of trust between the two men.

"Steve."

Bucky couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Steve was back. His Steve. He was _back_. He looked so different, so good. So happy, even if it was just only going to last for a few moments. He had color in skin, a smile that made Bucky feel so warm like the clouded sun above them.

It was like they were back in Brooklyn before the war, before everything went wrong.

Fuck, he was so gone for.

"Buck."

Bucky didn't know he was sprinting to him until he felt the impact of the chest colliding, Steve's arms wrapped tightly around him.

He let his metal hand tangle itself in Steve's hair,

Steve broke the hug, but didn't let go of his arm. Nor did he back away from the close distance between them.

"How have you been, Buck?" he asked, smile not leaving his face.

And okay, Bucky wanted to kiss him so bad, right there and there, _who cares who was watching,_ to pour out every feeling he felt in that action-

He stopped that train of thought.

Not the time. Not the place.

 _Get it together, Bucky._

So he did.

"Not bad," Bucky said, before remembering the circumstances they were all in. "For the end of the world."

Steve let out a short laugh, "Yeah, there is that." He dropped his hand from Bucky's arm.

Bucky followed his gaze into the sky, where the Ring hovered thousands of meters above Wakanda. Silent, with a even more menacing threat that was soon to come.

"Yeah, there is that, alright," Bucky repeated.

"Glad to have you back, captain," T'Challa said. "Even if it's under having to save the world circumstances."

"It's always under having to save the world circumstances," Steve said.

T'Challa smiled. "Let's get moving, then."

* * *

 **And that's chapter one! This fic is going to be from multiple different perspectives, but it was fun writing Bucky's. Thank you for reading! Reviews are welcomed!**


	2. Little Talks

**I felt that the argument between Tony and Steve in Age of Ultron wasn't long enough. And since this is a fix-it fic, well, -cracks knuckles- time to fix this. A whole lot of tension in this one, plus a slightly alternate take of the vision in Age of Ultron. I don't own Marvel: enjoy!**

* * *

Little Talks

* * *

Steve was good in reading an atmosphere, and he could easily tell that it was an occasion of celebration.

He looked down at his hands to see that his shield was missing and instead of his slightly darker suit, he wore his military uniform, complete with the medals and bars showing his rank as captain.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see-

Peggy?

He did a double take, and surely enough Peggy was there, out of uniform and in a blue dress. Beautiful, red lips curved in a smile. Not frail, not dying.

But young, vibrant and alive.

"Peggy?" Steve asked in bewilderment. "Is that you?"

"Well, of course it's me," she chuckled. "Who else would it be?"

"What's going on?"

"Steve, the war is over," she said. "We won."

But that wasn't possible. He found out the war ended seventy years later, not during the forties.

Before Steve could reply, he heard the sound of a nearby chair scraping the floor, being pushed away from the table.

"Hey, punk."

Steve's breath stopped.

He turned around to see Bucky. Not the weapon that Hydra made of him. Not his haunted eyes. A vision out of time stood not too far from him, unharmed, smiling and in his military uniform. He looked stunning, happy, _alive._ From the night they went to see Howard Stark's machines and wonders. The night before he left.

His humanity, his _Bucky,_ was still there.

For a few seconds, Steve struggled to find the right words.

It couldn't be real. It wasn't real. Bucky was somewhere in the world right now, hiding. He didn't know where he was

"Bucky?" Steve asked.

Bucky extended his arm, in flesh, to him. Grinning, with the same twinkle in his eyes that was just him.

Steve was tempted to take his hand and be pulled an embrace. But somewhere in him, he knew it wasn't real.

He felt his hand hesitate.

The two people he loved the most; Bucky and Peggy, alive and well, young and vibrant.

No.

This couldn't be possible.

"Why the long face, Steve?" Bucky asked. "The war is over. We're home."

His promise...

( _"I promise you, we're gonna make it. To the end of the line, pal. Once this war is over, we can go home."_ )

That promise, that was uttered in their tent late at night, when everyone was asleep, like a vow granted and fulfilled, with foreheads and noses touching. Steve almost a breath apart from leaning down to kiss Bucky.

(But he didn't.)

Peggy smiled. "You still owe me that dance."

"Oh, now this is gonna be a sight. Stevie got two left feet," Bucky laughed.

"Uh." Steve didn't know what else to say.

Then the ballroom was empty. Like the celebration of the war ending was never there in the first place.

Steve was alone.

Alone in the 21st century, with Peggy dying in a nursing home and Bucky disappeared somewhere around the world. His mother was gone, as was his father. He had no one left from his time before the ice.

Bullets were still ringing in his ears, tanks could be heard in the distance, the scent of death and ash in his nose; cold, bitter air from the thin atmosphere of the mountains, Bucky's screams as he fell-

Suddenly, he felt himself being yanked into reality.

His breaths coming in and out in an uneasy rhythm. He tasted salt coming from the tears as they spilled down his cheeks.

He was back in the same place he was before he got attacked. No ballroom, no blood, no war.

No Bucky. No Peggy.

Nothing.

"Captain? Cap, copy. Cap, are you alright?" Clint called out.

He coughed into his glove, breathing into it while Clint called out to see if anyone was replying.

"Steve, I'm going to need you to breathe," Clint said. "Breathe, okay?"

"Clint, she's dangerous."

"I know, I know, Cap. Are you okay? Captain?"

 _It was just a vision._

"Cap, copy."

 _It was only a dream._

"Cap, are you alright?"

 _Fuck, you gotta focus. You gotta focus._

The swing music wasn't playing from the live band. No.

Steady thrum of comm link, cold bite of the Sokovian air in the fortress. Salty taste of his tears as they fell against his lips. Steve felt himself finally grasp onto his five senses, remembering where he was.

"I'm alright," Steve lied easily.

"There you are. Are you hurt?" Clint asked.

"She can control minds." Steve's voice shook, trying to get a grasp on himself, still reeling from the panic.

"Yeah, I noticed."

 _Fuck._

"Hey, Steve. It's okay. You're right here, and you're gonna be safe," Clint reassured. "Let me reach you. Send me your location."

"Clint, it's fine."

"Everyone in the team is compromised except for me. So please, just stay there for five minutes. Talk to me."

"I'm…" Steve took a deep breath. "I'm on the west side of the fortress before heading to the basement. All hostiles have been cleared."

"I have Natasha with me. Keep talking with me."

Shaking, Steve slid down onto the floor and focused on the leather of his gloves. The team was falling apart.

"Did the Maximoff get to you?" Steve asked, unable to keep the tremor out of his voice.

"Nah, I got to her first. Electrocuted her."

"Oh. And Stark?"

"He's after Banner...He hulked out."

Steve felt his adrenaline spike some more.

"Shit."

"Yeah, no kidding."

He didn't move until he heard Clint's footsteps approach him.

"C'mon, up you go," Clint grunted as he helped Steve to his feet. "Let's get out of here. I've had enough of this place."

"You and me both."

For once, it was Steve following the lead of someone else into the Quinjet after a mission gone awry.

Everything was unraveling and Steve couldn't do a damn thing about it.

* * *

Steve listened as Clint reassured Tony that he was going to a safe house.

Steve went to the back to lay on the bench, to try to sleep.

(He couldn't sleep.)

Everyone except for Clint looked visibly shaken.

To have peace for a few moments then for it to be snatched away in those as well. To know the ugly truth that his life was in a war he couldn't fight directly.

Steve tossed his arm over his eyes and kept his breathing under control.

And didn't sleep a single wink.

* * *

To help Clint out for the upcoming winter, Steve and Tony kept busy by chopping logs into half.

"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?" Tony asked.

Steve wasn't in the mood for this.

He wasn't in the mood for any of this.

"Sometimes, my teammates don't tell me things," Steve didn't let the bitterness hide in his voice. "I was kinda hoping Thor was the exception."

"Well, give him time," Tony pulled another log on top of the stump. "He probably has a lot on his mind. Who knows what the Maximoff kid showed him." And down went the axe, splitting the wood almost evenly.

"Earth's mightiest heroes... pulled us apart like cheap cotton candy," Steve scoffed, chopping another log in half.

"To be fair," Steve pulled another log from the unchopped pile. "I don't know what she showed you; I just know it made you do something stupid."

It was a low jab, but Steve wasn't taking it meant what he said.

Tony obviously didn't like it, noted by his brief scowl. He shook it off though, tossing the two halves of the same log into his noticeably smaller pile.

"Seems like you walked away alright," he said, casually avoiding the subject.

Steve scoffed. "Oh, like any of us walked away unscathed."

"But, out of all of us, you look completely fine," Tony said, matter-of-factly. "Hell, you even took a nap on the flight back. Which seems pretty sketchy to me."

Steve didn't sleep.

(He had merely closed his eyes and prayed, imagining the counts from the rosary that his mother used to grasp at night time between her hands in prayer every night.)

"Is that a problem?" he asked.

Tony made a non-committing sound. "I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned."

 _A dark side, huh?_

"Well, let's just say you haven't seen it yet."

It came off as a threat. Or as a promise.

(Time would tell a year later in the Siberian bunker, with an armless Bucky struggling to stay alive out of neural shock and Steve nearly killing Tony in a leather-gloved knuckled beat down that it would be both.)

"You do realize that Ultron is trying to break us apart, right? This is exactly what he wants, just like that bastard, Loki; for us self-destruct from within."

(It's what Zemo wanted too.)

"You'd know all about Ultron," Steve said. "But the real question is if you would even tell us."

"Banner and I have been doing research…"

"-That would affect the team," Steve finished for him.

"-That would _end_ the team," Tony corrected. "Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the 'why we fight'? So we get to go home?"

"What, like keeping people safe is some sort of assignment? Do you really see it like that? An assignment you just want to get over with?" Steve asked. "Keeping the world safe from threats isn't a one time thing that once you do it, it's done and you get to go home. It's a commitment. "

"We have the means and technology at our fingertips that can keep people safe."

"That's what they said about weapons."

"But these are not weapons."

"Then what the hell is Ultron?" Steve asked.

"Ultron is a mistake."

"You tampered with something that is out of our realm of understanding."

"It's not tampering. I was trying to prevent something worse from happ-"

Frustrated, Steve snapped the log in half.

"Every time someone times to stop a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time," he said. "I know this from experience. Look at Ultron. Look at Project Insight. Do you know how many people could have died that day? Earth would have been a war zone."

"Don't talk to me about war-zones, Rogers. I've been in one. I've seen the _outcome_ of the weapons I used to supply in war."

"It's different."

"How the hell is it different?"

"You made the right decision to stop selling weapons. It's true. But this...Don't tread on this path, Stark. It's dangerous."

"How is this not the right path? Simply because I want to _prevent_ another Manhattan? Isn't that what we all want? To prevent mass destruction? To keep aliens from hurting our planet?"

"Tampering and creating a rogue AI is not the way to do so."

"What did she show you?"

"What?"

"Something's got you wound up, Rogers. What did the Maximoff kid show you?"

"Hey Stark!" Clint interrupted the argument, jogging over to the pair. "The tractor isn't working. Can you do me a favor and help me fix it?"

"Right now?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. We kinda need it."

Tony swung the ax down onto the stump, grounding it in place. He dusted off his hands on the surface of his jeans. "Yeah, I'll give it a kick," he turned to smile at Steve, all too brief and all too tense. "Don't take from my pile."

Which meant that the conversation wasn't over.

(Once they were both out of earshot, Steve didn't hesitate to break another log in half.)

* * *

 **First time writing in Steve's POV in a looooong time. I hope y'all enjoyed! Thank you for reading; comments are always appreciated.**


End file.
